My 30 Kids (Day 6)

Yes, that's right. I have many children. I was born and raised in Dallas, TX where I gained my love for swimming and all things water. I started coaching swimming when I was 14. After moving to Searcy I kept up my coaching by working with the CATS program and the Searcy Sharks. I love kids. I just love being around them and coaching gave me a way to have thirty of them. I don't consider myself just a coach. I hope that my swimmer don't only learn how to be good athletes but that I teach them how to self-motivate, work as a team, and learn to respect others. I hope I'm a mentor to them. I hope they know they can trust me and think of me as a role model.

I'm intense and I'm stern when I'm on deck. Those kids better listen and they better behave because I don't put up with lame excuses and I most definitely don't put up with bad behavior. Now, I love them and I do joke with them. I love every single one, even the ones that give me a lot of problems. And today I get to see them. I am so excited that I get to see my kids every day. Thursday's I have class so I can't coach. I hate Thursdays. I love seeing them in the pool, working to the best of their ability, and goofing off with me. I also like to reward them sometimes. They always think that practice is going to be hard. They're right to think that because it always is. So on Wednesday, when they finished warmup and I started telling them how we were going to do sprints all day, they looked terrified. Well I said that on purpose because I wanted to mess with them. What they didn't know was that sprints meant we were doing relays. In the swimming world relays mean games! We love relays! And this wasn't just any relay, this was their favorite relay. So after I was done playing my little prank I told them what we really were going to do and that after we had cupcakes to celebrate. Well let me tell you, they went crazy. They were screaming, and jumping, and exclaiming "I LOVE YOU!! I LOVE YOU!!" It was priceless.

It felt amazing to know that even though these kids hate the pain I put them through they still have so much respect for me. When they found out I was graduating this year they didn't know what to do. I don't really know what I'll do. I've spent four years with these kids. I've seen them grow up and change so much. I've seen them improve not just in swimming but in life skills. I've seen kids that couldn't get along with each other become friends, kids that had horrible tempers become leaders. They've become a part of me. They're like a family. I can't thank God enough for giving them to me. He trusted me enough with their young lives. He let me help mold them. He let me love on them, discipline them, teach them. And what they don't know is that they have done more for me than I probably have ever done for them. So day six is for my 30 kids, whom I love and will never forget.

Some of my swimmers at a meet last year.